Cornered
by DaniChibari
Summary: Gilbert breaks up with Madeline for no apparent reason, so Amelia convinces her to do some snooping around. What they find out is far from what they expected.
1. Chapter 1

**Friday night**

***a text conversation***

Madeline: Hey

Amelia: wats rong

Madeline: Nothing. Why would you think something is wrong?

Amelia: cuz u nvr txt me 1st

Madeline: Maybe I just want to talk

Amelia: cmon Mads just tell me alredy

Madeline: ...Gilbert broke up with me

Amelia: WAAAT?!

Madeline: Yeah

Amelia: im tellin ya hun, tht Gil was bad news. u dont ned him. i dont want u 2 shed a single tear ovr this. u were tooooootaly 2 good 4 him in the 1st place. r u doin ok? do u ned me 2 cum ovr?

Madeline: No, I'm actually okay

Amelia: relly?

Madeline: Yes. It was weird. When he said it I was a bit sad, but I wasn't crushed. I can't describe it. I felt like he had a reason.

Amelia: did he tell u a reson?

Madeline: No. But he did seem a bit ambivalent. Like he didn't want to break up but he still had to

Amelia: imma get 2 the bttm of dis.

Madeline: Please don't

Amelia: no 1 just dumps sum 1 out of the blu like tht! imma find out y

Madeline: Don't

Amelia: i will

Madeline: Do you have to be so adamant all the time?

Amelia: i dont no wat tht means but im still gonna git 2 the bttm of dis

* * *

**Saturday afternoon**

Madeline sat at her desk hunched over a chemistry book. She had put off a few assignments and was doing her best to catch up, but the insipid language of the textbook didn't make her task particularly exciting. Just as Madeline was considering taking a break, a light and airy sound echoed through the house.

_Ding Dong. Ding Dong. Ding- Ding Dong. Ding-Ding-Ding- Din-D-D-D-D_

"Oh my goodness, Amelia!" Madeline snapped as she made her way down the stairs. She flung the door open to see Amelia standing on her front porch, still pushing the doorbell as fast as could.

"Hi there, Mads!" she said brightly over the incessant ringing she was causing.

Madeline frowned, reached for her friend's wrist and firmly pulled it away from the button.

"Every time? Do you really have to do that _every _time?"

Amelia only gave a giddy giggle.

"What are you doing here?" Madeline sighed and released Amelia's wrist.

"I'm here to take you out of course!"

"Out? Where?"

"Anywhere! Let's go!"

And before she could object, Madeline was being dragged out the door and down the driveway towards her friend's car. Amelia practically threw her into the passenger seat then skipped around the car to the driver's side.

"Seriously?!" Madeline asked incredulously.

"Aww c'mon! Don't be a stick in the mud."

Madeline was about to make a comment to defend herself but then thought, _I was gonna take a break anyhow. Might as well spend some time with friend while I'm at it._ So Madeline tried to relax and not ask anymore questions as Amelia drove off…

...until they pulled up to their high school.

"Wait... What are we doing here?"

"Practice."

Amelia was a tennis player and it was tennis season but... "I thought you guys didn't practice on weekends."

"Oh I didn't mean _my _tennis practice, I meant Gil's soccer practice."

"Amelia! I told you to drop it!"

"Oh quit it," Amelia responded in a curt manner. She got out of the car and waited for Madeline to do the same before continuing. "You said yourself that there something was weird about how he broke up with you. Don't you wanna do some snooping around?"

"I guess," Madeline answered reluctantly. "But what's your plan? March right up to him and demand answers?"

"No," Amelia answered slowly, her blue eyes becoming bright with mischief. "I was thinking...Well, I think we should follow him for a bit."

"Oh, right. So we're just going to casually stalk my ex-boyfriend for the rest of the day," Madeline said sarcastically.

"Yeah, pretty much!" Amelia exclaimed, affirming her friend's caustic comment. "Look here he comes! Duck!" Without any further warning Amelia grabbed Madeline's shoulders and pulled her down so that they were both crouching, the car between them and Gilbert.

"Honestly, I wonder why I put up with all your crazy antics sometimes-"

"Shushhhh! Don't you know anything about stalking? Rule number one: shut your face!" Amelia then peeked out to watch Gilbert as he walked off the field towards the parking lot.

"Amelia," Madeline whined worriedly after a while. "Are you sure we're allowed to this?"

"Oh calm down, Mads," Amelia responded, "You're acting like we're doing something illegal."

"We're stalking my ex! I'm pretty sure that's illegal!"

Amelia waved her hand dismissively. "Details."

Maddie sighed but peeked out as well and focused her attention on Gilbert. After all, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Gilbert walked off the field while laughing and talking with some friends, his usual affable air surrounding him. Eventually he and his friends split off, each of them heading off in their own direction. Gilbert's soccer bag was slung over his shoulder. His hands were in his pockets and he whistled as he walked. His phone chimed inside his bag, so he stopped to take it out.

Amelia and Madeline watched closely as he read the text and saw his face drop. He glanced around, suddenly paranoid. He typed a quick response, shoved his phone in his pocket and walked briskly to his car. The girls stayed crouched as he drove off, a little too fast.

"What do you this that was about?" Madeline asked.

Amelia shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that he's leaving and we'd better keep following him."

Madeline nodded and the two girls hurried into the car, following Gilbert to his next destination.


	2. Chapter 2

Amelia followed Gilbert's car carefully, keeping her distance and doing her best to always keep a car between him and her whenever possible.

"You're way too good at this," Madeline noted. "Have you done this before?"

Amelia laughed. "I wish. I just watch a lot of 'undercover cop' stuff on tv. You really can learn some stuff from those."

"I'm sure you can," Madeline responded, although she didn't seem entirely convinced..

"I think he's heading home, Amelia," Madeline said as he turned into a subdivision she recognized up ahead. "We can't very well follow him into his garage."

"Hmm... You're probably right," Amelia assented reluctantly. She passed the turn into the subdivision, no longer following Gil's path. Amelia frowned deeply and furrowed her brow then suddenly snapped her fingers.

"Wait a minute! Isn't there a park right behind Gil's house? Like practically in his backyard?"

"Yeah, so? Would you mind elucidating a bit?"

"Nope!" She turned suddenly into a small street that led back towards the subdivision. "You'll see when we get there." Amelia was smiling from ear to ear now, her new idea clearly engendering giddy eagerness.

"Are you really not going to tell me?"

Her friend didn't respond; she only giggled.

_If I had a nickel every time she answered a question with a giggle_, Madeline thought as she was forced to once more, sit in the passenger seat and not question Amelia's ridiculous antics.

* * *

The duo soon found themselves in the small lot beside the park. Amelia parked the car, turned off the ignition and turned to her friend.

"So here's the plan: we're gonna find the biggest tree that's closest to Gil's house and spy on him from there."

"O...Kay. I still don't see why you're so excited about this."

"Because I finally get to use these!" She reached over to open the glove box and pulled out a pair of sleek black binoculars.

"You keep binoculars in your glove box?!"

"My brother got them for me a few weeks ago. Aren't they sweet?!" She Looked through them and adjusted the lenses. "I've been waiting for a real reason to use them and now's my chance! C'mon, let's go!" Amelia hung her new ocular device around her neck, jumped out of the car and began running towards a large tree near the edge of the park.

Madeline calmly got out of the car and followed her friend at a slow walk. She glanced around. The park was small and empty. No one would bother them or question what they were doing. They wouldn't be getting into any trouble, at least for now.

Amelia, being the boundless ball of energy she was, got to the tree and instantly began to scale it. By the time Madeline sauntered over, her friend was already at the top and fiddling with her binoculars.

"Do I have to climb up too?" Madeline asked.

"Nah, it's fine," Amelia said, having figured out her binoculars and now looking towards Gil's house. "How about I tell you what's going on and you be look-out?"

_Honestly, why do I play along with all of this?_ But before Madeline could put much more thought into it, Amelia began to expound her observations.

"I see him! He's heading towards the living room. And... he's just sitting there. Like he's waiting for something. He looks kinda nervous. Wait he just stood up suddenly; maybe the doorbell rang? He's heading back towards the front door but I can't see if someone is there because of the way the hallway bends. Yeah, he's completely out of sight now. I guess we hang tight for a bit. Wait he's coming back down the hall with someone. A tall lady with real short blondish hair and light blue overalls. They're just talking. I can't read their expressions but it seems kinda formal. Like she's just telling him some info. And now she's leaving. Wow, that was short. He's heading for the stairs and now I can't see him anymore. But there's a shadow in one of the rooms upstairs so I guess he's in his room with the curtains drawn."

Amelia looked down at Madeline who was leaning against the trunk of the tree. "I thinks that's about as interesting as it'll get." She lowered herself from the tree with various monkey-like maneuvers and dusted herself off once she got down, taking extra time to polish her newest toy with her sleeve. "What do you think that was about?"

Madeline tried to piece together everything they had seen. "A text that freaked him out, a lady we don't know, a 'formal' exchange of information..."

"And don't forget what started all of this. His reasonless breakup."

All these pieces just didn't add up. Madeline began to get an uneasy feeling. "Amelia, I don't think we should snoop around anymore. Whatever this is I'm sure Gilbert doesn't want us to be a part of it. Let's just let it go."

Amelia seemed like she was gonna object but then sensed her friend's discomfort. "Okay," she said, in a much gentler and controlled tone than usual. "Let's go home."

* * *

Gilbert couldn't focus. After Kat had left he tried to just go to his room and work, but he was just too anxious. Any second now Ivan would call and tell him something he didn't want to hear. He would tell him that he needed another favor, or another helper. Ivan would tell him that he needed more money from him, money that Gil didn't have.

_Damn it!_ For years Gil had been working to pay this debt. Why then, why damn it, was it still around?!

_RRRRRRRRING!_

Gil jumped at the sound of the long dreaded phone call. He took a deep breath before answering.

"Hello?"

"Da, Gilbert. I take it you know who this is?"

"Yes, Ivan." He hated the name. It chilled his blood just to think it, much less say it out loud.

"You realize you owe me quite a lot and have been paying it off slowly over the years?"

"I realize that," Gilbert acceded.

"Well then, you'll be happy to hear I will no longer need any favors from you."

Gilbert's heart fluttered. Was he really free?

"Instead I've decided I want your debt paid in full by the end of the month." Gilbert froze. "Thank you. That's is all."

And the line went dead.


End file.
